Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Toycon 2012: Geek Overload

We went last year (2011) and I (Ica) was even in Cosplay. We had fun taking photos and picking up a few items. Paul and I didn't really make plans to go to Toycon this year especially since it was around time of what we call 'CWD' or Critical Wallet Day' which meant we really didn't have money to spare (and burn) to indulge us to go to this year's Toycon.


Trooper and Proud!
But my cousin Beau kept on encouraging me to go so after some discussion we decided to go. Our friend Luis is part of the Philippine Outpost 501st Legion and was attending the Toycon with his fellow Star Wars enthusiasts and appearing as the well known and loved characters from George Lucas' classic. My other cousin Jeb and my Tito David was also with us. We also had my friend Pj in tow. We were pretty much a group and well you know the saying 'the more the merrier'.

So here are the some of the photos we took during the Toycon and since we came from work- my husband and I were in the night shift we were pretty much worn out by Lunch Time. Definitely next year we'll be more prepared and go on a leave a day before the Toycon.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Branching out to Toy Photography


Our little unexpected trip to Toycon 2012 inspired us to branch out to Toys and Hobbies Photography. Getting into Toy Photography was inevitable because of our geekiness.

Here are two photos of our own 'toys'.


Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion


Gundam Seed Destiny Wing

Looking forward to shooting more toys in more locations!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Plagiarism: Lying, Cheating and Stealing


I don't know whether to consider it a creepy coincidence or a disturbing fact that within a span of 1 week I came across two stories about plagiarism. In these tales of intellectual theft I knew the people involved. It is interesting to note that these two people I know were on opposite sides of the spectrum since one was the thief and the other a victim. 


In these tales of intellectual theft I knew the people involved. 

My second cousin who is an artist shared her eye-opening experience of her work being stolen and passed off for another's work. As if that wasn't bad enough these stolen pieces of art were entered in contests and won, not only that but the apparent thief was also earning profit from these designs which were not his. It's a good thing that things have been fixed and have worked out with the case of my cousin. To read out the details as well as to find out what to do when your intellectual property was stolen you can read Feanne's post: 


http://feanne.tumblr.com/post/24404423041/what-to-do-if-your-art-is-stolen 


Feanne's original artwork from 2007. 
Stolen art: You can easily see elements from the original work  which were stolen. This design won at Graniph Design Award in 2012
Unfortunately in the other story of plagiarism I encountered the person I know is not the victim but was the one who plagiarized another's work. It is a good thing that I am not related to her or am I friends with her.  This person who I know through College and a common friend copied the blog of well known blogger Patty Laurel and passed the blog of as her own.  As a freelance writer I know what a great offense plagiarism is my clients use different programs such as Copyscale just to ensure that the work that you are submitting is really yours. Even just one sentence that was copied exactly can already constitue to loosing a client. What more if you copied an entire blog entry? ! Unlike my cousin Feanne's experience this one has not taken a peacefull resolution. Apparently the girl who plagiarized the blog post has refused to apologize to Ms. Laurel despite being given the chance to do so. Not only did she refuse to apologize but she also had the audacity to attack Ms. Laurel through email. It has made me come to think of what a twisted and cruel world we live in where in the thief gets to harass the victim.